Battery Park City – Perfect Weather, Public Art & SUPERTALL!

Is everybody OK?! Hopefully, Hurricane Irene simply kept you cooped up all weekend watching a bizzaro version of real-life Double Dare and browsing Google Art Project. Today it seems Irene left a bit of a peace offering in this gloriously perfect weather. So get out and celebrate the fact that low-lying Battery Park City didn’t get washed away with a public-art-spotting walk along the Esplanade! First, climb the serene grassy knoll that is the Irish Hunger Memorial on Vesey & North End Ave. Brian Tolle designed this thoughtful memorial with stones from all of Ireland’s 32 counties and native Irish wild flowers. When you reach the top of the winding path, you’ll see lovely Lady Liberty in the distance. Take a moment to remember all those affected by hunger around the world, and those who did feel Irene’s wrath, and maybe donate your (thankfully) unused hurricane survival supplies to the Food Bank.

Walking along the Esplanade is like a treasure hunt, though you don’t have to look very hard for the loot. From Ned Smyth’s The Upper Room to Siah Armajani’s railings along the waterfront, there are gems to be found all along this 1.5-mile stretch. I especially love Martin Puryear’s Pylons, massive columns standing tall between the ferry dock and the North Cove Harbor. Which is your favorite? 

Winter Garden Atrium inside the World Financial Center is another highlight. If you happen to be in the neighborhood on a Thursday, grab lunch at the WFC Greenmarket. Any day of the week there is the legendary burger and onion strings at PJ Clarke’s or the grass-fed, Angus beef burger at Quality Burger (not to mention the char-grilled steak banh mi at Fatty Snacks!). Then (if it’s Wednesday- Sunday), make your way down to the Skyscraper Museum for SUPERTALL!. It’s a thrilling look at the 35 superstar buildings around the world that are 100+ stories and literally towering above the competition. There’s a special look at the World Trade Center towers and the past decade of their rebuilding. Leaving the museum and seeing Tower 1 rising just a few blocks north really puts the incredible triumph of these colossal structures into perspective. Super cool. 

Assuming you went for the burger at PJ’s over the Migliorelli Farm veggies, heed the signs and “Burn Calories, Not Electricity. Take the Stairs!”

Ingredients:

Venues: Battery Park City; World Financial Center; Skyscraper Museum

Artists: Brian Tolle; Martin Puryear, Etc.

Streets: Vesey St to Battery Place

Eats: Greenmarket; PJ Clarke’s; Quality Burger; Fatty Snacks

Map:

Union Square - The Andy Monument

Today (and for the next six months or so), Andy Warhol finds himself immortalized in Union Square Park among some pretty impressive company. Grab lunch at the Greenmarket (on Mon., Wed., Fri. and Sat. only), and gaze upon The Andy Monument. Created by Rob Pruitt, it’s a 10-foot-tall chrome Warhol, and it’s great. I mean, it’s chrome! It’s Warhol circa 1977 in his Levi’s and sport coat, carrying a Polaroid camera and a Bloomingdale’s “medium brown bag.” It is also seeped in allusions, like how he toted around paper bags full of Interview Magazine issues and how the walls of his Factory (which at one point occupied 33 Union Square West) were lined in tin foil. Even if you’re not in the know, The Andy Monument will just make you smile. 

As you cross the northern side of the park, look up among the towering trees and you’ll find a bronze Abraham Lincoln, sporting a similar hairstyle to Mr. Warhol’s and standing high on a massive granite pedestal. The Union League commissioned this monument after Lincoln’s assassination, and it’s a very cool example of how American artists like Henry Kirke Brown (the sculptor here) took their classical training and layered on some American realism.

Continuing clockwise around the park there is the Marquis De Lafayette. He was a gift from the French government as a “thank you” to New York for helping Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, and he was fashioned by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (of Lady Liberty fame).

Probably the most recognizable monument in Union Square is George Washington on horseback. Also by Henry Kirke Brown, this statue is the oldest in the New York City Parks’ collection. Maybe that’s why they keep it featured so prominently on the southern edge of this

always-crowded park. There’s a pretty fantastic view from the 2^nd floor café in the Whole Foods across the street, which, by the way, is another good lunch option if it’s not a Greenmarket day.

Thanks to the Square’s long tradition of public protest, the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation dedicated a statue of the man himself (by Kantilal B. Patel). Just like Washington, Lafayette and Lincoln, Gandhi was devoted to defending freedom and civil rights. Thanks to a 2002 renovation, he is forever walking peacefully through Gandhi Gardens on the park’s southwest corner.

Given this rich history, (and there are even a few more monuments sprinkled in!) Mr. Warhol (and Mr. Pruitt) aught to be pretty flattered to be joining the club, if only temporarily. Plus, it’s only day one and there are already calls for the statue to be made permanent. Not bad at all!

Ingredients:

Venues: Union Square Park

Artists: Rob Pruitt; Henry Kirke Brown; Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi; Kantilal B. Patel

Streets: 14^th – 17^th Sts, Broadway/University Pl – 4^th Ave/Park Ave South

Eats: Greenmarket; Whole Foods

Map: